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Sun 04 Jun 2017
1st XI
13:00
Weybridge Cricket Club
Llama Revenge Over Weybridge in National
Toby Briggs7 Jun 2017 - 20:40
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In a game where more than 500 runs were scored, a determined Reigate Priory emerged the winners by 13 runs over rivals Weybridge on Sunday
Paul Bridge writes...
In a game where more than 500 runs were scored, a determined Reigate Priory emerged the winners by 13 runs over rivals Weybridge on Sunday to move forward into a June 25 fourth round game against Sunbury in the ECB National Club Championship.
Thanks to a sparkling 87 from Danny Miller, who hit seven 6’s and five 4’s, and a run-a-ball 56 from Oli Hairs, backed up by strong fielding when Weybridge batted, the Priory overcame a team they had not beaten in almost two years.
Miller and Bradley Scriven opened up for Reigate after skipper Luke Beaven won the toss in the 45-over-a-side game. The pair put on 59 together before Scriven was bowled by Brent Kay for 33 from 58 balls in the 15th over.
It was then that Miller boosted what was a modest run rate in his first flurry of three towering sixes in four balls. His hapless target was Weybridge off-spinner Philip Mann who was punished on the last ball of his third over and then balls two and three of his next over.
If that was not humiliation enough for Mann, the next time he came on to bowl, eleven overs later. Miller proceeded to hit a further three sixes in three balls.
Hairs coming in at 74-2, when the run rate was 4.2 runs an over, put on 99 runs with Miller in under 12 overs in what was to prove to be the key partnership of the game. When Miller was run out for 87 off only 68 balls (a strike rate of 128) the Priory run rate had increased to 6 runs an over.
With 16 overs still left in the innings that platform allowed the Priory to put on another 93 runs in the 17 overs remaining.
When Hairs was caught in the deep for his 56 from 51 balls at 197-5, the Priory owed much to a lively 34 from wicket-keeper Ali Raja in just 26 balls for the final total of 266-7 from 45 overs.
As has happened frequently this season, the Reigate tail of Richard Stevens, Simon King and Beaven also chipped in with a valuable 39 runs between them before the 45 overs limit ended.
A target of almost six runs an over was always going to be challenging for Weybridge, particularly as the side did not have any big-hitting batsman, like Miller, who could whop 20 runs in an over.
Ben Curran, the middle of the three Curran cricketing brothers, began Weybridge’s reply with intent, hitting Stevens for a 6 in the third over. But he and his partner Harry Cripps, while they put on 70 runs together for the first wicket, could never match the required run rate.
The first wicket came from Ollie Thilo’s third ball of the game when a cut from Curran was caught by Hairs, diving in the gully. The 15-year-old seamer was to prove once again he was not out of his depth in a 1st XI team and while there were no repeat heroics from Horsham, his final figures of 1-43 from eight overs were credit enough.
With Curran out for 40 from 49 balls, Cripps, then on 21 not out, put on 36 firstly with Odge Davey before partnering Oliver Mills in Weybridge’s largest partnership of 74 runs in a little over 12 overs.
Beaven kept his field pushed back as far as possible, which meant while there were plenty of singles on offer, the boundaries were harder to find. It’s telling that Reigate’s first five batsmen scored 60% of their runs from 4’s and 6’s while Weybridge could manage only a 40% ratio.
Mills, for instance, hit four boundaries in his 35 runs scored but had to scamper for 17 singles and one two. Both Mills at 178-3 and Cripps at 199-4 were out stumped by Raja off spinners King and Beaven respectively, as they tried to match the required scoring rate.
Cripps top scored for Weybridge with 88 from 107 balls with seven boundaries. When he was out in the 37th over, there were just over eight overs left in which to score 68 runs.
With victory in sight, Reigate held their catches and fielders sprinted to turn boundaries into three’s and three’s into two’s.
Despite a 10-minute discussion with the umpires as to who was eligible to bowl the last over and a subsequent 11 runs scored from Richie Oliver’s first and last over of the day, Reigate still managed a well-deserved 13 run win as Weybridge finished on 253-7.
Both Beaven (2-44) and King (2-52) led the wicket-taking in their nine over spells with Stevens (1-47), McInley (1-43) and Thilo (1-43) taking the remaining wickets.
The fourth round game in three weeks’ time will settle whether Reigate or Sunbury finish as Group 11 winners in the ECB competition and move into the first of the national rounds with 16 group winners competing. Group 11 has comprised 14 teams, 11 of which are from Surrey.
In a game where more than 500 runs were scored, a determined Reigate Priory emerged the winners by 13 runs over rivals Weybridge on Sunday to move forward into a June 25 fourth round game against Sunbury in the ECB National Club Championship.
Thanks to a sparkling 87 from Danny Miller, who hit seven 6’s and five 4’s, and a run-a-ball 56 from Oli Hairs, backed up by strong fielding when Weybridge batted, the Priory overcame a team they had not beaten in almost two years.
Miller and Bradley Scriven opened up for Reigate after skipper Luke Beaven won the toss in the 45-over-a-side game. The pair put on 59 together before Scriven was bowled by Brent Kay for 33 from 58 balls in the 15th over.
It was then that Miller boosted what was a modest run rate in his first flurry of three towering sixes in four balls. His hapless target was Weybridge off-spinner Philip Mann who was punished on the last ball of his third over and then balls two and three of his next over.
If that was not humiliation enough for Mann, the next time he came on to bowl, eleven overs later. Miller proceeded to hit a further three sixes in three balls.
Hairs coming in at 74-2, when the run rate was 4.2 runs an over, put on 99 runs with Miller in under 12 overs in what was to prove to be the key partnership of the game. When Miller was run out for 87 off only 68 balls (a strike rate of 128) the Priory run rate had increased to 6 runs an over.
With 16 overs still left in the innings that platform allowed the Priory to put on another 93 runs in the 17 overs remaining.
When Hairs was caught in the deep for his 56 from 51 balls at 197-5, the Priory owed much to a lively 34 from wicket-keeper Ali Raja in just 26 balls for the final total of 266-7 from 45 overs.
As has happened frequently this season, the Reigate tail of Richard Stevens, Simon King and Beaven also chipped in with a valuable 39 runs between them before the 45 overs limit ended.
A target of almost six runs an over was always going to be challenging for Weybridge, particularly as the side did not have any big-hitting batsman, like Miller, who could whop 20 runs in an over.
Ben Curran, the middle of the three Curran cricketing brothers, began Weybridge’s reply with intent, hitting Stevens for a 6 in the third over. But he and his partner Harry Cripps, while they put on 70 runs together for the first wicket, could never match the required run rate.
The first wicket came from Ollie Thilo’s third ball of the game when a cut from Curran was caught by Hairs, diving in the gully. The 15-year-old seamer was to prove once again he was not out of his depth in a 1st XI team and while there were no repeat heroics from Horsham, his final figures of 1-43 from eight overs were credit enough.
With Curran out for 40 from 49 balls, Cripps, then on 21 not out, put on 36 firstly with Odge Davey before partnering Oliver Mills in Weybridge’s largest partnership of 74 runs in a little over 12 overs.
Beaven kept his field pushed back as far as possible, which meant while there were plenty of singles on offer, the boundaries were harder to find. It’s telling that Reigate’s first five batsmen scored 60% of their runs from 4’s and 6’s while Weybridge could manage only a 40% ratio.
Mills, for instance, hit four boundaries in his 35 runs scored but had to scamper for 17 singles and one two. Both Mills at 178-3 and Cripps at 199-4 were out stumped by Raja off spinners King and Beaven respectively, as they tried to match the required scoring rate.
Cripps top scored for Weybridge with 88 from 107 balls with seven boundaries. When he was out in the 37th over, there were just over eight overs left in which to score 68 runs.
With victory in sight, Reigate held their catches and fielders sprinted to turn boundaries into three’s and three’s into two’s.
Despite a 10-minute discussion with the umpires as to who was eligible to bowl the last over and a subsequent 11 runs scored from Richie Oliver’s first and last over of the day, Reigate still managed a well-deserved 13 run win as Weybridge finished on 253-7.
Both Beaven (2-44) and King (2-52) led the wicket-taking in their nine over spells with Stevens (1-47), McInley (1-43) and Thilo (1-43) taking the remaining wickets.
The fourth round game in three weeks’ time will settle whether Reigate or Sunbury finish as Group 11 winners in the ECB competition and move into the first of the national rounds with 16 group winners competing. Group 11 has comprised 14 teams, 11 of which are from Surrey.
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